Over the years, integration of computer and telephone technologies has brought many advances in the telecommunication industry. Functionally integrating human operators with telephone network capabilities, voice and data switching capabilities, computer applications and databases, and voice processing technology not only provides human operators with immediate access to information from a wide variety of sources, but allows them to intelligently process each call as well. Telephone switches are linked with computers to coordinate computer information and intelligence with call handling capabilities to automatically add relevant data, as well as facsimile, graphics, video or audio communication capabilities. Select services or equipment such as automatic number identification (ANI) or dialed number identification service (DNIS) enhance calls and human capabilities by forwarding identifying information preceding a telephone call, thereby, eliminating steps otherwise performed by people to capture information regarding the caller. For applications involving large scale processing of calls, switch and host databases automatically link calls with a caller's record, eliminating the need for the caller to enter an identification number when using a voice response system.
More revolutionary applications use ANI to simultaneously pass both the call and the caller's current record to an operator's telephone and terminal. This obviates the need for a person to obtain, enter and receive the caller's record from the database. Such advances have immensely enhanced human capabilities for communication, data manipulation and control functions.
Somewhat concurrently, rapid developments in computer, telephone and video technologies have introduced the concept of visual communications or video conferencing. In particular, efforts at integrating these technologies have gained enormous momentum in recent years, resulting, in part, from a general desire in all industries to conserve time and expenses, and thereby, maximize human efficiency and productivity. The advent of videophones has enabled users to visually communicate from remote locations. Many industries are rapidly embracing the idea of video conferencing or visual communication to eliminate escalating travel expenses. Employees or customers in different places can take part in interactive training sessions or seminars with no loss of time for travel.
However, obstacles remain, particularly in traditional areas of cumbersome communication. Still, with developments, virtually every industry segment can profit from interactive data sharing in real time with the added advantage of face-to-face communication. Innovative technical advances are fast satisfying promises of enhanced capabilities, thereby, allowing users to share and manipulate images from remote locations, such as pictures, graphs, maps or the like.
Technical breakthroughs in audio and video compression technology make desktop video conferencing and visual communication both economical and practical for everyday business communications. To fully participate in video conferencing, the user's equipment must communicate with similar units, albeit, from different equipment vendors. The International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCITT) has defined a standard called H.261 (or "Px64") detailing how video and audio signals are compressed and decompressed for transmission across a common link. At present, no one industry standard and format has been adopted for video conferencing systems. Thus, the systems available on the market are not always compatible. As a consequence, many different types of video codecs (coders/decoders) are currently in use. For example, the AT&T AVP CODEC is a three-chip set that digitally processes high quality, full motion video images and sounds that are compatible with the latest videoconferencing standards.
At any rate, ongoing efforts at achieving compatibility and providing compression schemes that can transmit color images over POTS (plain old telephone system) all over the world are in the offing. Approaches for incorporating live-action, color video with standard voice telephone lines via networks and modems are currently being introduced. By using a suitable video capture board and a modem, live video may be received and displayed on any 386 or 486 personal computer running Microsoft Windows.TM.. The frame rate depends upon the type of display and type of communication hardware. For example, over a normal dial-up telephone line, a computer with a VGA (video graphics array) display set at 32,000 colors, a 486 CPU and a 14.4 kbs (thousand bits per second) modem can achieve a frame rate of 5 frames per second. The link between the personal computers can be established in several ways, for example, by a modem, LAN (local area network), serial port and other high speed digital links.
To consider an example of cumbersome communication in the merchandising industry, wholesale vendors or sellers of goods typically spend many hours attempting to schedule appointments with various buyers for different organizations, travelling to and from the buyers' facilities, and waiting for meetings, which may sometimes last only a short duration. Unfortunately, considerably more time and expense is incurred, in travelling to and from different facilities, than is desirable. Moreover, as a practical matter, specific vendor sales people are typically assigned to merchandise specific goods and interact with specific buyers, resulting in a need for more vendor personnel dedicated to particular buyers.
Moreover, in the event a specific seller wishes to broadcast a special offering of a particular item to plural buyers, for example, to dispose of an inventory of distressed items, the seller must undertake considerable effort, such as place an advertisement or otherwise initiate contact with buyers. An advertisement is likely to be viewed only by random buyers, thus, not always proving to be a reliable method of soliciting offers from all possible buyers. Moreover, initiating individual contact with a series of buyers, until eventually securing a final sale, constitutes an arduous task. Similarly, in situations where a buyer wishes to solicit proposals from vendors for a particular item, the same practice prevails.
Accordingly, the present invention recognizes the need for a system to communicate with remote locations over a widely distributed area, from other places, such as a central location, for the applications discussed above as well as many other diverse applications with similar requirements. In particular, the present system recognizes the need for directing and exchanging communications, such as offers and responses, between select members of plural groups or sub-groups, analyzing and compiling data relating to such members, scheduling appointments, implementing face-to-face conferences (in real-time), and consummating transactions and billing relating to transactions between such groups.